Piston for internal combustion engines



March 19, 1940. J. H. TAYLOR PISTON FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed July 13, 1938 l l I l l I INVENTOR. Jab/7 H 767/0/ 4X Q- Q I y ATTORNEYS M rennin. Taylor, Battle cut-am nv Application July 1a, 193:, Serial 1%. 218,962

' a CIairna (c1. soc-s1)- This invention relates to improvements in pisthe ring throughan inner spring member. This ton forinternal combustion engines. pressure is in the o posite direction to the pres- The main objects of my invention are: sure, tending to spring the piston ring inwardly First, to provide novel means for counteractand, accordingly, the ring is balanced automatiing the tendency of ,a piston ring to spring incally at all times in the cycle of piston opera- 8 wardly on the compression and explosion strokes tion so far as the gas pressure in the cylinder of the piston. v v r is concerned, 1. e., during the compression, explo- Second, toprovide means for urging a piston sion, exhaust and intake strokes In addition to ring radially outwardly under the influence of overcoming loss of compression-and vacuum by gas under pressure during the compression and leakage past the piston, my provisions automati- 10 explosion periods in: the cycle of operation of an oally ass that p s o ring ma ntains sealinternal combustion engine to compensate for ing contact with the cylinder wall, notwithstandthe inward springing eflect exerted on the ring ing wear on the latter, fora much longer time by gas in the cylinder. 7 than is possible in the case of piston rings and Third, to provide means for uniformly balancexpandersin use at present. i5 ing and sealing a piston ring radially against Referring to the drawing, the reference nu the cylinder wall' during the entire cycle of opmeral l indicates the conventional engine block eration of 3, iston, .whereby t prevent lo s ofv of an internal combustion engine having cylin compression and vacuum. ders 2 therein. It will be understood that a suitv Further objects relating to details'and econoable head is likewise provided carrying intake 20 mics of my invention will definitely appear from and exhaust valves and ignition means. Howt description t f .The invention is-deever, I have omitted the same from the drawing finedin the claims. 4 for the purpose of simplifying the latter. Y

tr t embodying th featuregof my'in The numeral 3 designates a piston of cast iron vention is illustrated in the accompanying drawor aluminum which is in general of conventional 25 .ing,'wherein: I e construction, this piston being slidablein cylin- Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view in transverse secder 2 and having the usual piston rod 4 secured tion on line I of Fig. 2, illustrating an interthereto! P t n 3 s p ov ded W th a nular P nal combus'tion engine cylinder and piston-proton ring grooves 5, 6,'and I.v The compression vided with means in accordance'with my invenrin s 8, illustrated as dispos in e w 'upp r 30 I i v tion for preventing loss of compression and vac-j grooves 6 and 1, are of t e co ven i na Sp t uum in the operation thereof. cast iron type. The ring 20 in the groove 1 is Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view partially broken 0f t e typ commonly nated as an oil rin away and in section online 2-2 of Fig. 1. and has Slots t permit P ge of oil to the 86 Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view partially broken drain port 110185 22 0f the piston. away and in section similar to'Flg. 1, illustrating Thev fore n c ns r ction is Well knownin the operation of the ring sealing means at adlfthe internal combustion engine art, and I desire ferent period in the cycle than that shown in to stress the fact that by reason of its relying Fig, 1, I v on well known parts such as the piston and rings 40 Fig.4 is a perspective view illustrating the pisjust described, the structural details of my in- 40 ton ring expansion spring or sealing member vention may be quickly and inexpensively emconstituting an element of my invention. bodied in existing types of engines. The said The present invention relates to means for invention will now be described in detail. counteracting the well known tendency of ordi- Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the two upper nary types of compression rings employed in grooves 5 and 6 are each provided with a pair 45 internal combustion. engine pistons to 'yield in of diametrically opposedarcuaterecesses, those contract radially inwardly. on the compression in groove 5 being designated 9 and spaced 90 and explosion strokes of the piston. This tendfrom those in groove 6' which are designated l0. ency results in loss of compression and resultant Although the dimensions thereof may be altered,

so excessive waste of fuel and oil'by reason of leak- I find it desirable to form the recesses with a age past the compression rings. I substantial radiusof curvature.

My invention has -forits purpose-to correct The piston 3 is provided with a central bore the aforesaid objections by subjecting a piston x or port ll extending axially of the piston and ring to gas pressure during the compression and with which the fourradial branch passages I2, ll explosion strokes, transmitting the pressure to l3, M, and i5 communicate. Passages l2 and v i3 communicate with the opposed recesses O in groove 5, whereas passages I4 and II are at a lower elevation and at right angles to passages l2 and It so as to communicate with recesses l in groove 6.

The expansible spring inner expanding and sealing ring or member I6 is provided for each of the grooves and 6. These members are similar n outline to the outline of the bottom of the respective grooves 5 and 6, in that each sealing member is generally circular and carries a pair of arcuate concaved portions or arches I'I adapted to seat or nest respectively in or against the groove recesses 9 and ill in sealing relation to the radial passages l2, I3, l4. and I5 at the point of communication thereof with the recesses. Such a seal member or spring is illustrated in Fig. 4. It will be observed that the split l8 therein is positioned angularly 90 from the concaved portions IT. The spring is made of flat steel spring stock approximately equal in width to the height of the grooves, whereby to prevent substantial leakage of compression past the spring.

In operation, the sealing members l6 are inserted in the ring grooves as illustrated in Figs, 1 and 2, with the concave portions or arches lying in register respectively with recesses 9 of groove 5 and with recesses ID in groove 5. Piston rings 8 are then positioned in the grooves. In practice there will be sufficient clearance behind the sealing member Hi to permit proper spring functioning thereof although I have not attempted to illustrate the same. It should be noted that the sealing member I5 is preferably of spring steel and bears resiliently against the piston ring to urge the same outwardly in the well known manner of expansion springs or rings expanders. If desired, additional provision in the form of piston or ring engaging loops or the like may be made to emphasize this action. However, the expanders in accordance with my invention also exert a different type of augmented sealing effect on the piston ring because of the fact that fuel vapor during the compression stroke and the burned gases attending the explosion stroke enter the axial port H and radial branch ports l2, l3, l4, and I5, thus impinging the rear of the ring sealing member l6 at the arches ll therein. By confining the area acted on by the gases to that included in arches ll, the likelihood of leakage above and beneath the ring sealing member is minimized.

This results in springing of said portions I! from the position illustrated in Fig. 2 to that illustrated in Fig. 3, with the further result that the radial outward thrust on piston ring 3 at points P is greatly increased. This increases the unit sealing pressure on the cylinder wall and to a large extent eliminates loss of compression past the ring and excessive fuel and oil consumption during operation.

On the intake stroke, when a partial vacuum exists in the cylinder above the piston, the concaved portions I! of the sealing member are snapped radially inward against the passages l2, l3, l4, and I5, thus automatically sealing the same and preventing loss of vacuum. It will be noted that by locating the single exhaust port in the center of the piston and utilizing a plurality of branch ports instead of providing a plurality of axial ports, I am able to equalize the outward thrust imparted to the piston ring at all the pressure points P around the periphery of the ring. This is especially advantageous because the instantaneous pressure existing in the cylinder directly after the explosion may vary at different points in the cylinder, due to the usual eccentric location of the ignition means.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that I have provided means for automatically compensating for the tendency of gases and vapors to leak by the piston by balancing the ring radially and, moreover, that this tendency is counteracted exactly and only at the time in the cycle when it exists. It follows that cylinder wall wear is minimized, while at the same time an effective sealing action of the piston ring in out-of-round cylinders is accomplished. These results are had without in any way increasing the number of parts existing in present day piston construction, and moreover the changes necessary to permit installation of the sealing provisions in accordance with my invention in the usual engine piston are slight and inexpensive and readily effected by any normally skilled mechanic.

Although I have illustrated my inventive provisions in a preferred adaptation to an internal combustion engine, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that their application is not unduly limited in this respect, but on the contrary the sealing member and related provisions of my invention are readily adaptable with few changes to use with any piston employing a compression ring or equivalent element for the purpose of offsetting loss of combustion thereby.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an internal combustion engine having a cylinder and a piston reciprocable therein provided with an annular groove receiving a compression ring, a sealing member for preventing loss of compression past the ring, comprising a generally circular flat steel spring having a plurality of concaved portions therein, said spring being disposed in said groove in internal spring engagement with said ring, said piston having a central axial bore communicating with the cylinder above said piston and radial passages communicating with said bore, said groove having recesses formed therein and communicating with said radial passages, said recesses being similar in curvature to said concaved portions to accommodate the latter, said portions in normal position of the member lying across said passages and being subjected to compression pressure existing in said passages and bore on the compression and explosion strokes of the piston,' :,whereby to urge the member outwardly for thrust engagement with the piston ring.

2. In an internal combustion engine having a cylinder and a piston reciprocable therein provided with an annular groove receiving a compression ring, a sealing member for preventing loss of compression past the ring, comprising a generally circular flat steel spring having a plurality of concaved portions therein, said spring being disposed in said groove in internal spring engagement with said ring, said piston having an axial bore communicating with the cylinder above said piston and radial passages communicating with said bore, said groove having recesses formed therein communicating with said radial passages to accommodate the portions, said portions in normal position of the member being subjected to compression pressure existing in said passages and bore on the compression and explosion strokes of the piston, whereby to urge the member outwardly for thrust engagement with the piston ring.

3. A piston reciprocable in a combustion engine cylinder and means for preventing leakage past the piston, comprising a piston ring mounted in a groove in the piston and a sealing memgine cylinder and means for preventing leakage past the piston, comprising a piston ring mounted in a groove in the piston and an annular sealing member in said groove between the ring and piston and in radial thrust engagementyith the former, said piston having a passage therein communicating said groove with the pressure in the cylinder above the piston, whereby to urge the member into thrust engagement with the piston ring to increase the unit cylinder wall pressure exerted by the latter, said sealing member having an inwardly oifset portion directly subject to the pressure in said passage.

5. In an internal combustion engine having a cylinder and a piston reciprocable therein provided with a piston ring receiving groove, said piston having axial and radial passages com-v said member being. apD Oximately equal in width.

to the height of said'groove, the compression pressure in the cylinder being eflective on said member to thrust the latter outwardlyagainst the ring, said member having concaved arches and said piston groove having concaved recesses to receive the arches, whereby to iocalisethea -ing pressure of the latter.

plication of pressure to the member and transmit pressure from the member to the piston ring at points at the extremities of said arches.

6. In an internal combustion engine having a cylinder and a piston reciprocable therein provided with a piston ring receiving groove, said piston having passages communicating said groove with the cylinder above the piston, means for'increasing the pressure exerted on the cylinder wall by a piston ring in said groove, particularly during the compression stroke of the piston, comprising an vexpansible member in said groove between the piston ring and said piston and in radial thrust engaging with the former, the compression pressure in the cylinder being effective on said member to thrustthe latter outwardly against the rings, said member having concaved portions subject to the pressure in said passages.

7. In combination, a piston having compres sion ring receiving grooves, piston rings therein, and a pair of generally circular flat expansion spring members each having a plurality of concave arches therein, said grooves having provision ior receiving said arches in nesting relation, with the arches on the respective members disposed at an angle to one another, said piston having a central axial port communicating with the cylinder above the piston and radial branch ports communicating with said port and said grooves adjacent said arches, whereby to subject the latter to compression pressure above the piston.

- 8. A device for preventing loss of compression and vacuum in an internal combustion engine cylinder having a piston reciprocable therein, comprising a generally circular split member of flat spring steel having arcuate arches therein,

said piston having a piston ring receiving groove therein provided with arcuate recesses adapted to receive-said arches, said piston having passages communicating said recesses with the cylinder above the piston whereby to subject said arches to compression existing in the cylinder, said arches when under compression expanding outwardly toengage the rear of the piston ring andthereby increase the unit'cylinder wall seal- JOHNH. TAYLOR 

